Final Report Summary - EU-AGRI MAPPING (Mapping and foresight of agricultural and food research capacity in the new member states and in the candidate countries)
The study covers all areas related to agricultural and food research, including research dedicated to emerging challenges of the European agricultural and food sector. It covers a wide range of scientific disciplines and research issues going further than issues directly related to food production. It includes for example non-food products, nutrition and health, forestry, natural resources management, landscape management, rural development, agricultural economics etc. The geographical coverage is the EU-27 plus Croatia, Iceland, Israel, Norway, Switzerland and Turkey (countries associated to the Framework Programmes (FPs)).
This study is the first attempt to draw the landscape in agri-food research in the 33 countries associated to the FPs. The unavailability of statistics shows the need to determine and collect basic indicators on agri-food research. This is a pre-request for an efficient monitoring of the research capacity - this task could be assigned to the JRC and integrated into the ERAWATCH initiative.
There are indications that the overall capacity and financial support is decreasing while agri-food research systems need to cope with new challenges such as energy and climate change. This may be a concern for the future. A closer look at the agri-food education system could help to determine if this trend could represent a threat for the future.
There is a wide disparity in the research systems and the European agri-food research landscape is finally composed of several landscapes. A common trend is the reform of the research systems with the merging of institutions, the better coordination of the research through the establishment of research councils and the allocation of research grants through competitive bids.
The study reveals that research-intensive countries (most of them located in the north of Europe) have undertaken restructuring of their research system earlier than the others. According to performance indicators such as the number of citations, these countries are leading. Research trends also indicate that these countries integrated earlier than others the new policy (energy, climate change, biodiversity) and technological (consumer research, biogenomics, nanotechnology) challenges. Exchange of practices and sharing of experience could be very beneficial to the countries that are currently implementing changes in their research systems.
The study also shows that European agri-food research performances are handicapped by obsolete infrastructures in many of the new Member States. This, combined with the scattering of the research capacity and the difficulties to implement efficient research management, constitutes a serious threat for European research as it leads to inefficient utilisation of the research potential.
Finally, the study confirmed the need for a stronger coordination of research planning and funding at European level. This need is reinforced by the important place occupied by the Common Agricultural Policy in European policies.
This study is the first attempt to draw the landscape in agri-food research in the 33 countries associated to the FPs. The unavailability of statistics shows the need to determine and collect basic indicators on agri-food research. This is a pre-request for an efficient monitoring of the research capacity - this task could be assigned to the JRC and integrated into the ERAWATCH initiative.
There are indications that the overall capacity and financial support is decreasing while agri-food research systems need to cope with new challenges such as energy and climate change. This may be a concern for the future. A closer look at the agri-food education system could help to determine if this trend could represent a threat for the future.
There is a wide disparity in the research systems and the European agri-food research landscape is finally composed of several landscapes. A common trend is the reform of the research systems with the merging of institutions, the better coordination of the research through the establishment of research councils and the allocation of research grants through competitive bids.
The study reveals that research-intensive countries (most of them located in the north of Europe) have undertaken restructuring of their research system earlier than the others. According to performance indicators such as the number of citations, these countries are leading. Research trends also indicate that these countries integrated earlier than others the new policy (energy, climate change, biodiversity) and technological (consumer research, biogenomics, nanotechnology) challenges. Exchange of practices and sharing of experience could be very beneficial to the countries that are currently implementing changes in their research systems.
The study also shows that European agri-food research performances are handicapped by obsolete infrastructures in many of the new Member States. This, combined with the scattering of the research capacity and the difficulties to implement efficient research management, constitutes a serious threat for European research as it leads to inefficient utilisation of the research potential.
Finally, the study confirmed the need for a stronger coordination of research planning and funding at European level. This need is reinforced by the important place occupied by the Common Agricultural Policy in European policies.